My Work
in Progress is coming Feb. 15
American Music: Born in the USA
A History of American Music
ISBN:
978-0-9861109-7-9
Print book $22.99
I will be offering to
bookstores with a 40% discount.
Contact me for more information
or a sample PDF.
The book is a 230 page book with
color photos of many places
related to music places.
Autographed copies can be
arranged.
There will also be an eBook
version.
They
Brought the Seeds
When early settlers came to
America they often brought few
material items, but they brought
many customs, traditions, and
music of their homeland here.
These things, mainly the music
took root in America’s soil and
grew.
These emigrants came for many
different reasons. Some came to
escape poverty and find a better
life. Some were forced out of
their homeland by war. There
were many who had no choice but
were torn from their families
and homes and brought here.
Unlike some versions of history
state, this was not a land
just “discovered.”
There were indigenous groups with established cultures who
had lived here for thousands of
years. In spite of the
misconception that all Indians
wore feathers, lived in teepees,
and had the same culture, Native
American music and culture
differed regionally and from
tribe to tribe. They each had
their own music as well.
America really was a melting pot
then. The music of Native
Americans, white settlers, and
the Black enslaved people
mingled to create new forms and
songs from Delta blues and
“Hillbilly” music, to Rock. My
biggest question is does the
music reflect the culture, or
does the culture reflect the
music?
This is the history of American
music. From its birth in the
1700s through the 20th century.
This is not the music of the
elite, the operas, or the
classics. It's the music of the
people. It's not always a pretty
story. Sometimes labor pains are
hard, but in the end, it shouts
loud and clear, "I was Born in
the USA!"
What others are saying
about American Music: Born
in the USA
I’ve
had a fascination with music for
most of my life.
I’m
not gifted with the ability to
play but I adore sitting back
and listening to talented
artists move me with their
compositions.
What
really helps me to enjoy the
music is getting some knowledge
on the artists and genre’s that
I listen to.
There’s no doubt that American
music vastly influences nations
worldwide, and as seen in
Kathleen’s book, has been
influenced by those brought to
America.
Inside you’ll find a diverse
look at the different genres of
American music along with their
origins.
You’ll need to set aside a few
nights at least to complete the
book. I found it very enjoyable
and intend to read it again.
5
stars for
American Music: Born in the USA:
A history of American music.
--
History Nerds, authors of
Scáthach: Warrior Queen from the
Isle of Skye
and
other books.
American
Music: Born in the USA is an
absolute must-read for anyone
interested in music! This book
is a comprehensive journey
through the history of all
genres of popular music in the
USA. Author Kathleen Walls
nicely combines an engaging
storytelling style with personal
anecdotes and memoir, along with
meticulously thorough historical
research, with the very pleasing
result that after reading this
short and easy to understand
volume you will have learned a
potted history of American
musical knowledge while being
thoroughly entertained. Not only
is this book packed full of
famous and lesser-known
musicians, but there is an
admirable gender balance; all
too rare in an industry where
women are still
under-represented, and many
female musicians have been
forgotten and left out of
history books. The book is
packed full of interesting
photos, which complement and add
depth to the written content,
bringing it alive.
Musicologists and fans, feast
your eyes on this book. Also
suitable for readers who are not
very
knowledgeable
about music, as in learning
about it you will absorb much
fascinating history of the
development of American society
and culture. Highly recommended.
--Elise Baker author of
Voices of Freedom
There
are lots of wonderful
information and stories in it!
--Emily
Epley Travel and Tourism
Director for Cleveland County,
NC
That’s a tremendous undertaking.
We all need a copy of her book.
Pam Cox, Scott County,VA Tourism
Director
My Travel Books
Color
Saint Augustine
My newest
book is a way to virtually visit
Saint Augustine. It's a coloring
book for grown ups (but kids
will love it too.) It's a spiral
bound, letter size (8.5" x 11")
book with an actual photo taken
by me of one of the attractions
in Saint Augustine. The opposite
page is the same photo converted
into a black and white line
image for you to to color. It's
64 pages with 30 photos and 30
pages for you to color. On each
photo and each color page there
is a little about the story of
the image .
Wild About Florida: South Florida Special sale price for print book
$6.99
Geography has dealt Florida a lavish hand when it comes to natural gifts. The Sunshine State is filled with unusual flora and fauna. South Florida is home to the endangered Florida panthers and the only North America crocodiles. The Everglades swarm with wildlife from birds such as wood storks, ibises, flamingos, roseate spoonbills and dozens of others to mammals such as black bears, bobcats, fox squirrels and raccoons. When it comes to reptiles, you will find more alligators than you ever dreamed of as well as gopher tortoises, caimans, green anoles, five lined skinks and hundreds of other snakes, turtles and lizards. Take a boat ride into the surrounding waters of the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, you will find dolphins dancing in your wake. Drop on down to Big Pine Key, which is the only place you can encounter the tiny Key deer in the wild. You will probably spot a few sun-loving iguanas as you island hop through the Keys. South Florida's plant life is also abundant and rich. From the native mangroves, which are at the root of the food chain to the colorful exotic Brazilian pepper, which threatens native plant life but seems impossible to eradicate to the delicate wild orchids, which thrive on air alone, your senses will be overwhelmed by the color and variety. Then there are also all the refuges, preserves, parks and zoos that make South Florida a nature lover's paradise. Wild About Florida- South Florida is a guide no outdoorsman- or woman- should be without. It lists those hard to find places and provides the inside scoop on those magnificent spots you might never find on your own. It portrays Florida's wonders with original full color photographs.
Wild About Florida: Central Florida Special sale price for print book $5.99
Central Florida has the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf beaches much like other parts of Florida, but in many other ways it is distinct and unique. The Florida scrub jay, a bird many Floridians believe should be our state bird, is found nowhere in the world except central FloridaCentral Florida is bisected by one of the most unique rivers in the state and perhaps even the world. First off, the St. Johns is the longest river in Florida and one of the few in the country to flow north. The total distance the river drops from its source in marshes southwest of Melbourne to its mouth in the Atlantic near Jacksonville is less than 30 feet, or about one inch per mile, making it one of the laziest, slowest-moving rivers in the world. Also due to the fact that it is born in the salty estuary marshes of Indian River County, passes through salt springs and then receives an infusion of salt at the mouth, creates a more brackish river. It's the only river in the country that is home to saltwater stingrays. Then there are the whooping cranes. There are only three whooping crane colonies in the United States. Central Florida's Polk, Osceola and Lake counties are the home of the only non-migratory flock of whooping cranes. Citrus County is host to the ultralight-led migratory flock that winters in Chassohowitzka National Wildlife Refuge near Crystal River. And then there is -- but why not just read the rest of the book to discover all the things that are uniquely central Florida. We also have some great black and white illustrations inside to help visualize the wild wonders of central Florida.
Wild About Florida: North Florida Special sale price
for print book $5.99
Come explore caves, hills, whitewater falls and lots of other fun things you didn't expect to find in Florida. North Florida still lets you enjoy the sun and sand of Gulf and ocean beaches, you expect in the Sunshine State but there is so much more. The northern counties are totally different from their southern and central counterparts. Wild About Florida: North Florida is the ultimate guide to eco-travel in Florida. Hike an aboveground cave at Florida Caverns State Park. Think you need to travel to the mountains for whitewater fun? You can find that right here in Florida at Big Shoals State Park offering the largest whitewater rapids in Florida. Looking for rare and exotic wildlife? How about the Sherman fox squirrels at Gold Head Branch State Park or the white squirrels at Ochlockonee River State Park? Into reptiles? You can view white alligators at Saint Augustine Alligator Farm. And that just scratches the surface. This book will tell you when and where to find all the outdoor fun you can imagine in north Florida. Like its south and central Florida counterparts, it is a guide no outdoors person should be without. We also have some great black and white illustrations inside to help visualize the wild wonders of north Florida.
Georgia's Ghostly Getaways
Special
sale price for print book $8.99
Come
with me on a visit to Georgia’s
ghostly getaways. They offer
spirited excitement and haunting
beauty. From the seaport of
Savannah to the Appalachian
Mountains, the Peach State has
its share of spooky spots. The
spirits come in both sexes and
all races. You can even find
animal ghosts. Join me as we
look behind all the creaky doors
and eerie mansions at Georgia’s
most spectral sites.
It’s probably just coincidence
that these spooks choose to
abide in some of the most
interesting places in all of
Georgia. It would be an awful
shame to visit these haunted
sites and miss out on some other
fascinating places just around
the block. So, in order to get
the most enjoyment out of each
place with a haunted site,
Georgia’s Ghostly Getaways will
also recommend other places of
interest in the area.
Hosts With Ghosts
Special sale price for
print book $8.50
Meet the hosts who have the Haunted Hotels around the Southeast and lots more spooky sites you'll want to visit.Places like New Orleans where ghostly tales inspired Anne Rice who lived and wrote there.
What travel experts say about this book: "What a fun read! I learned a lot I didn't know before! Nancy S. Millar, Vice President and Director, McAllen TX Convention and Visitors' Bureau
"Great!" Ruth Sykes, Vice President, Media Relations & Marketing, Macon, GA Convention & Visitors Bureau
"What a wonderful, comprehensive haunted history." Beth Krauss, Media Relations Manager, Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Finding Florida's Phantoms sale price 10.99
Florida! The land of sunshine and wide-open beaches. But even the Sunshine State has its dark secrets. Places where centuries old spirits remain tied to earth. Beneath the facade of fun and make believe, lurkes the real Florida.
My Fiction Books
Missing--
Gone but not Forgotten
Jon rapped hard on the
door, Sheriff's Department
responding to your call. Please
open the door.
When the trailer became silent
and the door swung open, Clair's
first thought was this was
another child in the family. The
person standing in the doorway
was about five foot three or
four, thin to the point of
emaciated, with long brown hair
straggling in her face. She was
wearing a rumpled tee and a pair
of skinny jeans and tennis
shoes. Her large blue eyes with
a totally blank expression gave
the only hint that this was
17-year-old Autumn Daily, the
person reporting the missing
child. She looked like she was
stoned out of her mind on some
strong chemicals. Behind her,
loomed a man a bit over six feet
in his mid-twenties. He had dark
short hair, a small mustache
and, weighing about 160 with
enough muscle to take on either
detective. His knuckles were
bloody as if he had been
punching something or someone.
He clarified that by slamming
his fist into the trailer's
side. “It's about damn time you
get here. Some fucker took my
daughter! If I find ‘em, I'll
kill 'em so you better get them
first.”
These
words lead Detectives Jon Capono
and Clair Alexander into a
search for a missing child. in a
rural Florida community. Drugs,
family feuds, underage sex, and
lots of lies abound. Tthe story is
based on an actual case. In real life,
this case has never been solved.
I lived in the county where the
abduction occurred at one time,
and followed the case from day
one, so it feels very personal.
The Ranch House Heist
Life gets really complicated for Casey when high-dollar art begins to disappear. And people she knows are dying. Casey and Roger are at a pivotal point in their relationship, but will Casey survive to make any decisions?
Double
Duplicity
Book 2 in the Realtor Mystery
Series
Casey’s
in trouble again. It’s bad when
you have a tenant you're
evicting renting one side of a
duplex and dying in a suspicious
fire. When her twin sister shows
up, and the police start
investigating your motives,
you've got double duplicity.
The
Tenant from Hell
Book 1 in
the Realtor Mystery Series
It's
usually just routine for Casey
Clark, Property Manager at
Peller Realty. When a tenant
refuses to pay rent, just evict
and move on. Not so with the
tenant from Hell. When the
police find Casey alone with the
dead tenant and the murder
weapon, it draws Casey
into murder, drug rings, ghosts,
Indians, and a hectic trip to
Hell in Georgia. Her worst
problem of having to deal with
her psychic cat, Dixie, not
getting along with Casey's
pirate boyfriend's parrot,
changes into scrambling to stay
alive.
For
Want of a Ship
John Roy
came to New Orleans with his
family in 1843. He found
prosperity and a home. He was
assistant supervisor to
Beauregard building the Custom
House when the war erupted. It
was only natural when the Civil
War broke out he would remain
loyal to Louisiana. He built
cannons to arm the forts but he
soon discovered that the sea and
ships beckoned to him, He built
one of the few submarines and
helped outfit some of the most
famous Confederate warships.
After the fall of his city, he
ended the war helping build the
CSS Missouri, the last
Confederate ironclad to
surrender in American waters.
Follow his only slightly
fictionalized story told here
for the first time.
Under a Bloody Flag
In Kansas and Missouri, the War Between the States started long before Fort Sumter. Daniel Fitzgerald, a Southerner who tries to settle Kansas and leave behind his tormented Louisiana roots, soon finds that in Kansas Territory you have to take sides or die. Taking sides doesn't lessen the chances of a violent death, it just determines who is going to try and kill you.
For Massachusetts-born Rebecca Styles, who comes to Kansas to insure freedom for slaves, the choice is easy. Or is it? When she meets Daniel, she is forced to take a new look at all the ideas she took for granted, like all Southerners are evil and all abolitionists are good.
Daniel's half-brother and former slave, Andre, knows his first loyalty belongs to his friends and family, not a lofty ideal, but he can't sit by and do nothing when injustice stares him in the face.
Throw into the mix all the larger-than-life characters who played a part in the sectional violence which led the nation into its bloodiest war and you have a novel with all the drama of the era. You'll meet James Lane, John Brown, JEB Stuart, Robert E. Lee, Joseph Shelby, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, and the other men and women who have shaped this nation into what it is today. You will never look at any of them as just characters in a history book again. This is a historical novel unlike any you have ever read before. It is a blend of history, action and romance. Facts read like fiction, and fiction could have been fact. It is a story of a time that changed a nation and a handful of people who lived and died in our nation's most colorful era.
Under a Black Flag
Kansas and Missouri heated to the boiling point during the War between the States. Follow Dan and Andre as fate leades them different ways. For Dan and Becky, Missouri only offers the illusion of peace. Dan is drawn into Quantrill's raiders.
Andre is drawn into a web of intrigue that leads him back to New Olreans in search of the plans for John Roy's submarine, to Charleston at the start of the war, and many other dangerous places.
Last Step
Special sale price for
print book $8.99
Vickie's daughter is dead. Just one more dead druggie among the hundreds that die each year in Jacksonville, Florida's drug infested slums. The police aren't concerned about her drug-related death. Vickie needs to know. Was it an accidental overdose, or murder? To find the anser, she must leave her safe life behind and plunge into the terrors of the drug culture. Will the search lead her to love? Or will she end up on a morgue slab, just one more casualty in the war against drugs?
Hank's mistakes caused the death of those he loved most. Drug addiction is his sworn enemy. His chosen life has no place in it for love until he meets Vickie.
Joe's money and power haven't been able to save his marriage or his son's love. He seeks Vickie's love but what are his secrets?
Vickie's daughter is dead. Just one more dead druggie among the hundreds that die each year in Jacksonville, Florida's drug infested slums. The police aren't concerned about her drug-related death. Vickie needs to know. Was it an accidental overdose, or murder? To find the anser, she must leave her safe life behind and plunge into the terrors of the drug culture. Will the search lead her to love? Or will she end up on a morgue slab, just one more casualty in the war against drugs? Hank's mistakes caused the death of those he loved most. Drug addiction is his sworn enemy. His chosen life has no place in it for love until he meets Vickie. Joe's money and power haven't been able to save his marriage or his son's love. He seeks Vickie's love but what are his secrets?
Kudzu
Special sale price for
print book $3.99
After a painful divorce, Casey returns to the haven of her childhood, her great grandmother Weesie's tiny log cabin. Nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia, the cabin rekindles memories of her happiest years as a young child enjoying Granny Weesie's tales of treasure. Casey seeks a peaceful refuge she will share only with her cat, Smokey. However, much more than early memories await Casey in Bluejay, Georgia. By chance, or was it design, Weesie's childhood diary turns up in the cabin. The scrawled pages transport Casey back into the late nineteenth century. Far from finding the peaceful time she expects there, she uncovers a web of adultery, murder and intrigue that threatens to entangle Casey's twenty-first century life. That life threatens to become more complex when her new neighbor turns out to be a handsome victim of his own marital disaster. Lee Schmidt has vowed never to let another woman mangle his life. As Casey is drawn deeper into Weesie's life and times, her "real" life becomes more complicated by her growing attraction to Lee. Some strange occurrences happen in the cabin mirrored by tales of ghostly sightings in her family history. Her involvement with things past increases. As she travels back to 1879 via Louisa's diary, she meets an intriguing cast of characters. Donald Stuart, her "sister" Lillith's faithful lover, David, his evil hearted twin brother, Ma and Da Garrett, Louisa's parents and her own direct ancestors, and the other inhabitants of early Bluejay. Kudzu shows you
a different part of the South, past and present. Mystery with a touch of romance and a smidgen of paranormal.
The
Scoop $.99 at Kindle
Experience life in American
under a ruthless, narcissistic
president. Can he succeed in
destroying democracy as we know
it? Does he have the potential
to destroy the world in a
nuclear holocaust? What will it
take to stop him? Although many
of the events occurring in the
book sound unbelievable at first
glance, much is taken from
history and similar events that
have really happened.
Of course, President Runk and
his appointees are fictional. If
anyone notes a resemblance to
Donald Trump, naturally, that is just a
coincidence. This book will have
you hanging on for one hell of a
rough ride.
By Any Other Name
$.99 at Kindle
Loretta learns that one
harmless white lie can lead down
strange paths. Little by little,
her heedless statement draws her
into a dead woman's identity.
Will her deception bring her
true love or death? She
struggles with her growing
attraction to Greg, the rugged
attorney, who accepts her as his
dead friend's daughter. As she
is drawn deeper into the web of
deceit, it becomes increasingly
clear someone wants to kill
her. The motive, her share of a
vast English estate.
Is it Richard, her supposed half-brother who has the best motive, or Polly, his doting aunt, with her knowledge of herbs and poison? Could it be Nat, the seductive outsider, who offers friendship? Perhaps it's Morgan, Nat's handsome twin, who romances Loretta. Is it her or her fortune he desires? Perhaps even sickly Arabella, the twins mother, could murder to help her children. Worst of all could it be Greg, who has captured her unwilling heart? Does he return her love or is there someone else he wants? In the entire family, only little Drew and his two beloved dogs appear trustworthy. But even he has his secrets
